Folding fruit-box.



110479336. PATENTED FEB. '18, 1908. I l

H. 1-". PADGHAM.

FOLDING FRUIT BOX.

APPLICATION FILED FEB.18, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

l I a W/ TNESSES' aw H 1 lhlli l fl l m PATENTBD FEB. 18, 1908.

H. F. PADGHAM FOLDING FRUIT BOX. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18, 1907 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

iii

INVENTOR WITNESSES M 2 HENRY F. PADGI-IAM, OF PORTLAND, OREGON.

FOLDING FRUIT-BOX.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed February 18. 1907- Serial No. 358.137.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. PADGHAM, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Portland, in the county of Multnomah and State of Oregon, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Folding Fruit- Boxes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompany ing drawings as constituting a part thereof.

This invention has for its object to over come certain structural defects now appearing in boxes of this type, by reason of which there is constant apprehension of the bottom breaking down while the box is in transit, filled with its load of fruit; and to this end I make the bottom of my boxes of two hinged pieces or sections, one being made with a tongue which enters an aperture of the opposite part, and by which the parts are interlocked. Furthermore I make the tongue member with broad. laterally projecting shoulders or portions so arranged that when the box is set up, ready for receiving fruit,

such shoulders will underlie and effectively support the outer corners of the upper piece of the bottom.

My improvement furthermore comprises other features, which will be more fully explained in the body of the specification, and appear in the drawings.

In the latter, Figure 1 shows a perspective of my box of the smaller type, set up ready to receive fruit, parts being broken away so as to disclose the interior arrangement of the bottom; Fig. 2 is a plan section of the type shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 are details of the interlocking bottom parts of my box; Fig. 5 isa transverse section taken on Fig. 1 5 Figs. 6, 7, and 8, taken together, are sections on a similar line as the section shown in Fig. 5, but representing a type of box which is especially adapted to hold grapes or other larger-sized fruit, and these figures represent the progressive arrangements of the two folding pieces of the bottom, in the act of setting up the box, ready to receive the fruit;

and Fig. 9 shows the type of box represented in Figs. 6 to 8 in its knocked-down condition, the letters designating the parts described:

Referring now in the first instance to my berry box shown in Figs. 1 to 5: The main body, a, of the box is made of a strip of veneer having scores or incisions along its folding edges, so that the body may be stitched and folded together as common in boxes of this type. The bottom is also made of the usual veneer in two parts, I), 0, each provided with a hinge-piece, b, 0, having an incision or score, as usual, along its folding edge, and which bottom parts, 6, c, are stitched, respectively, to opposite wallsections of the body, as more particularly shown in the sectional Fig. 5. It will be noted that the bottom part b, underlies part c, and that the former is made with shoulders 6 so arranged as to form a substantial support for the corners of the overlying part c. The latter is made with a central aperture through which is inserted the tongue 6 of the part b; and the two bottom-pieces being then pressed down, as indicated in Fig. 5, so that the same will interlock as shown. It is to be observed that the main part of the load will be carried by the pieces, I), c, of the bottom near their hinged-edges, and that the tongue, of the piece I) though in itself a weak part, comparatively, by reason of the leverage arrangement, is amply capable of sup porting its portion of the load, while the shoulder-portions b projecting only a short distance beyond the hinge-joint ofthe piece I), have ample strength to support the corners c of the overlying piece 0, in an effective manner. When the box, just described, is to be arranged in its shipping condition, the pieces, 6, c, are folded up against the sides and the body may then be folded as usual.

I shall now describe the construction of my so-called five-pound fruit boxes, being the kind used for shipping grapes, and other larger-sized fruit. In the smaller or berry boxes, the bottom-folding pieces are prefer ably so arranged that when the boxes are arranged in tiers one on top of another, the upper layer of berries of a lower box will not be crushed by the bottom of the upper box, for these berry boxes, as well known, are shipped in crates holding twenty-four onepound boxes. hen shipping grapes or larger-sized fruit, however, the boxes are adapted to hold five-pounds each and are shipped in crates holding only five boxes, or twenty pounds in all. These larger-sized boxes must, however, be made with bottoms setting directly upon the bottom of the containing crate, for if the bottoms were ar ranged the same as in the smaller sized, or berry boxes, such bottoms would be apt to break down in transit under the weight of the load resting thereon; otherwise the principle of construction is substantially the same, except in the few details of arrangement, as now will be explained.

The body (if is made of veneer, as usual, and has scores along its folding edges, as usual, to enable the folding thereof together for shipping. The knocked-down condition of my five-pound boxes is shown in Fig. 9, this figure, however, showing the box bottom side up. To the wall-portions of the boxes are stitched, at opposite ends, two bottom pieces, 6, f. They are respectively stitched close to the bottom as will be observed from Figs. 6 to 8, and'they are sub stantially made as the corresponding pieces, I), c, of the one-pound berry box, only being somewhat differently manipulated. That is to say, the piece f, is made with a hingemember f, by which it is stitched to one side of the body of the box, and the piece e is provided with a. corresponding hinge-member e by which it is stitched to the opposite side. The piece f is made with shoulders f arranged to support the outer corners e of the piece a, when the parts are folded together, and the piece e is made with a central aperture 6 in which is inserted the tongue f when the parts are arranged together as shown in Fig. 8. It is to be noted ,that the hinge-incisions of the bottom pieces, 6, f, are so made that such bottom pieces can be ar ranged outward of the body, as shown in Fig. 9, instead of folding inward against the sides thereof, as shown of the smaller berry boxes, Fig. 5; and when setting up the boxes to receive the fruit, the bottom piece 6 will, in the first place be turned inward, as shown by following the manipulations suggested by Figs. 6 and 7, and then the tongue f is inserted in the aperture 6 of the bottom piece e, whereupon the bottom members are pressed down and arranged as shown in Fig. 8, causing the bottom pieces to be arranged substantially as described of the smaller, or berry boxes) The bottom pieces will be found to fold easily together, and the corners e of the upper bottom piece e will be so effectively supported as to strengthen the structure of the bottom as a whole, serving to hold the same in proper rectangular position when set up. It is further to be said of the bottom piece a of the smaller box that it is much less liable to split if made as shown than if it had a corner cut away so as to interlock with an oppositely arranged, correspondingly shaped bottom piece as common in the type of berry boxes heretofore in use. The same principle applies to the corresponding bottom piece of my larger-sized boxes.

The structural arrangement described of the larger sized box may also be advantageously followed of course in the making of the smaller berry-boxes.

I claim:

A folding fruit box comprising folding walls, a bottom, said bottom comprising two members formed of veneer and scored along their folding edges to provide attaching portions, means for fastening the attaching portions to the walls of the box, one of said members being equal in area to the interior area of the box and abutting against the walls thereof and provided with an opening, the

other said bottom member having only a portion of its body equal to the width of the companion member and abutting against the side walls and having a tongue extending centrally from said body portion, said tongue passing through the opening in the companion member and resting on the top of the latter.

HENRY F PADGHAM Vvitnessesz T. J. GEIsLER, CECIL LONG. 

